Jessica Enderle graduated from Lipscomb with a degree in psychology in 2008, but she is still having an impact on the Lady Bisons volleyball program. Three of her former club players – Bri McCombs, Maggie Allen and Kaitlyn Teeter – are part of the 2013 roster. They all played for Enderle when she coached the Impact Club team and Allen also played for her at Page. Enderle stays busy as director of Club West volleyball and as the girls’ volleyball coach at Page High School in Franklin, Tenn. She found time this week to talk with lipscombsports.com.

What sport did you play at Lipscomb? What years? Who were your coaches?

“I played volleyball from 2004 through 2007. Brandon Rosenthal was my coach.”

Why did you decide to attend Lipscomb?

“My Dad, Wayne, started Club West volleyball. And the guys who helped him start it were from Pepperdine and knew Brandon Rosenthal. One was a close friend of his.

“Brandon had just taken over the program at Lipscomb. I was determined to get out of California where I lived. I loved Nashville.

“It took me about two years to really fall in love with Nashville. Now, I don’t know if I would ever move back to California.

“I knew about the rules, the curfew and the dress code. And I wasn’t happy about it. My Dad said Lipscomb sounded like a great place for me to go. It was kind of a family decision. If I was going out of state, I was going to Lipscomb.

“When I visited I thought the campus was beautiful. When I walked in Allen Arena that was probably the biggest selling point. I thought that this could be my home for the next four years.”

What is your fondest athletic memory at Lipscomb?

“For me, personally, it was my senior year when we played Belmont in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. That was my best collegiate match by far.

“In all honesty it was my whole senior year. We were a close-knit group of seniors. Our team accomplished so much in the 2007 season. We won the conference tournament for the first time. We went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. That whole year was just awesome.”

What was it like for you to go to the NCAA Tournament?

“I know we were excited. I don’t think we had any sort of expectations. We knew we were a little fish in a big pond. We wanted to go there and try to do the best we could.

“It is cool to say you ended your career at the `Big Dance’. Not many people get that opportunity.

“It really said what the personalities of our senior players were like. We are still all very close. We are all still very involved with the program.

“We were a stubborn group. There was no way possible that year that we weren’t going to win the conference tournament and that we weren’t going to go to the NCAA Tournament.”

Who had the biggest influence on you during your athletic career at Lipscomb? How?

“I would have to say it was my Dad. There are days where it was like you want to come home and that you hate your college coach. And there were days when I thought Brandon was the greatest thing ever.

“My Dad showed me a lot of patience on the good days and the not so good days. I had some injuries along the way. My Dad helped me get through it.”

What is your fondest non-athletic memory from your time at Lipscomb?

“Grace Gilmore, Alex Scruggs and I all moved off campus our junior year and got a house together. All our friends came over there all the time.

“We would come home after volleyball practice and there would be five or six people in the house. We have a lot of fond memories from there.”

What is the most valuable thing you gained or learned from your time at Lipscomb?

“I would probably credit this to Brandon. I would say it is a sense of family. With Club West, one thing that people always say about us is that we are very family-oriented. My program at Page is also very much a family.

“The importance of having a sense of family and a sense of community is something I learned from Brandon. Your family is not just the people who are connected by blood to you. Your family can be created as well.

“There are a lot of things that we did at Lipscomb that I use with my programs. I got called out in the Williamson County coaches meeting last week. The county athletic director came to Page and watched our play day.

“I did what Brandon made us do all through college. When a new person came to practice or a game we all had to introduce ourselves. At Page I made the girls introduce themselves to the county A.D. He loved it.”

Who was your favorite professor? Why?

Dr. Frank Scott in family and consumer sciences.

“I was really close to Dr. Scott. A few of the volleyball girls are in the family and consumer sciences. Dr. Scott was really invested in our futures and what we were doing as volleyball players. He was just awesome.

“I remember his classes were always engaging. It wasn’t just the standard, `I am going to stand and lecture’. He would bring people in. He would have different activities. I was already interested in the area, but I really liked that he was bringing in people from real life that we could talk with. It wasn’t just learning from a book. It was how all of this stuff pertains to life. It had a personal touch.

Where do you live now?

“I live in Nashville in the Crieve Hall area.”

Who is your employer? What is your occupation? What does your position entail?

“Club West is my full-time job. I am the director. But I also coach volleyball at Page High School.

“At Club West we have kids as young as 5 and as old as 18. This is what my family does in California. I started a satellite location here. My Dad’s club in California is one of the top clubs in the country, rated 21st.

“I started Club West three years ago. I started coaching first with Impact volleyball.

“I am starting my fourth season at Page. We finished fourth in the state last year. We won the state championship my first two years there in 2010 and 2011.

“I love this side of coaching. I have had a few college offers, but I like being on this side of it and helping girls get to college. I coached Maggie Allen from the time she was 13. She is like a little sister.

“It is cool to be a part of that journey with these girls for a long time and watch them go and pursue their dreams just like I did.”